Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Is our democracy doomed? Could be. It even looks as if that is our course.

First let me try, again, to clear something up. The United States is NOT, I repeat, the US is not… a Democracy! We are a Democratic Republic. In a Democracy all the citizens vote on everything the government does. Everything. All legislation is passed by a majority vote of the citizens of a Democracy. In a Democratic Republic, we elect representatives who vote for us, at least that is what they are supposed to do… represent their constituents by voting the way those constituents would vote, if they were to cast individual votes, as in a Democracy. You can judge for yourselves if your representative votes the way you’d like him, or her, to vote.

Surprised? A lot of US citizens are, when they learn, for the first time, the US is not a Democracy.

However I have begun to worry that our fate will be the same as that of world democracies through out history. Here is something Alexander Tyler said over a hundred years ago. He said:

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasure. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's great civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage."

Thus said Alexander Tyler.

Do you see the parallels between Tyler’s pronouncement above and the state of the US today? Look at the European countries with their welfare states. The degradation of the US is certainly behind that of the European countries, but we are definitely on the slippery slope back into bondage. Much of our country is already at the “dependency” stage. If there is any doubt about that…look at the fight the dependents are putting up against the attempt by the Bush Administration to privatize Social Security.

The US Government is the single largest employer in the United States. There is something deadly wrong about that... for a country…any country. All those government employees are “dependent” on the government.

When you take the time to think about this, really think about this, the course to which the US is committed is frightening. Very frightening, indeed!

Our Government is entirely too large, and it’s reach is far to long and far to invasive. It has become so large it is self-perpetuating. It simply continues to grow for that is what it does, and does best. At some point, in the not too distant future, it will implode… collapse of it’s own weight.

Monday, May 30, 2005

Well, today is Memorial Day in the US. A day we have set aside as a day to remember and celebrate our war dead, and to honor those men and women who fought in all the wars of the United States. Here in the American South, we celebrate the Confederate dead as well as the US dead. After all, Memorial Day began as a Southern Holiday to honor the Confederate dead by cleaning their gravesites and cemeteries.

Yesterday, I had the great good fortune to speak to a church congregation, as their featured Memorial Day speaker. The passion for their lost soldiers lies just beneath the surface. As the names poured out, from the members of the audience, to be remembered, it was astounding to feel the longing, the love, the loss, felt by those folks as they called aloud the names of their dead soldiers, all the way back form the Revolutionary War which the US fought with Great Britain to win our freedom. To see grown men, with gray in their hair, burst into tears and choke up recalling their loved one, or buddy, killed, or wounded, in one of our wars brought the hint of tears to my own eyes.

We don’t celebrate war in the US, but we do celebrate our war dead. Christ said: “Greater love hath no man than he who would lay down his life for a friend.” The war dead of this country did that. It would be impossible to honor their sacrifice too much.

I remember today, my uncle who died in his ancestral homeland of Belgium during the Second World War fighting to free them from the grip of Hitler’s troops. He is buried in Europe… somewhere. I think of all the cousins who fought in all the wars since the War Between the States... forward. And, I think of my Great Grandfather, who fought in the 17th Regiment of South Carolina Infantry, Company “I”, along with a slew of great uncles, cousins and such. Some of them never made it back home to their loved ones.

That’s what this day is about. Remembering them, and remembering that freedom is not free. We pay for it. We pay for it in blood. But, it is so precious millions of Americans have willingly laid down their lives to secure it for the generations yet unborn.

So, today, remember. Take a few minutes to remember them. Call out their names aloud; speak their names into the blessed free air around you, for they paid for it.

The MSM is becoming exorcised over the possibility of the US placing defensive, as well as offensive, weapons in space.

My first thought, upon hearing this, was: “You mean to tell me they are not there already???

I cannot conceive of our nation NOT having defensive weapons in space… at the very least. The satellites we have out there are vital, essential, to the everyday operation of this country… and government. They need protection. Even the Pentagon admits that should our satellites be destroyed, or taken over by an enemy, it could bring this nation to its knees.

We have known, since day one in space, that we would have to be prepared to place weapons there. Anyone, with an ounce of sense knows the country, which controls the skies over our heads controls us! We cannot allow that to happen.

Missile bases on the moon? Why not? I see no difference in placing the missiles in orbit or on the surface of the moon. None. Both are excellent vantage points and the perfect bombing platform to reach any spot on the globe.

It is understood the Pentagon has spent a huge amount of money developing these weapons and is now ready for a Presidential directive to deploy them.

There will be weeping and wailing and condemnation, from our less than friendly allies, all over the world. The UN will be heard from. All will be decrying the placement of weapons, of any kind, defensive or offensive, in space. But it is coming and will be a done deal shortly.

Some space weapons will have the capability of knocking out missiles, aimed for the US, shortly after they leave their launchers on earth. Others will stand permanent guard over our communications and military satellites. This is as it should be. We have a right to protect ourselves, regardless of the howls of protest, which will surely arise as soon as the MSM plasters this “alarming” news all over their papers and evening news broadcasts.

As I said near the beginning of this post…. I will be more than a little surprised to learn that we do not already have space-based weapons systems deployed now. I will sleep better at night knowing the guardians above are “at the ready” in case one, or more, of our many enemies decides it is time to strike.

Friday, May 27, 2005

Fellow Republicans: Below is the list of Senate Republicans who sold the Republican Party out with their “agreement” with the Democrats on the filibuster of Conservative Judicial Nominees: (the ‘08 or ‘06 indicates the year they will be up for re-election.)

Well, well, well, the sweetness and light, from the Democrats in the US Senate, lasted…what…24 hours… 48 hours, tops? Who’s surprised? Anybody? If it weren’t so ridiculous, I’d be laughing! I hope the 7 Republicans listed above have begun to see they were snookered!

Like many of you I have watched the Democrats, in the Senate, set this up, constructing it very carefully, and then slammed the door shut on those poor, naïve, 7 Republicans who are scared more of the Democrats, and the press, (Make that MSM) than they are of their own constituents. So, like Great Britain’s Neville Chamberlain, with his pledge of “peace in our time” from Hitler, the 7 dwarfs who signed onto that farce have been blind-sided by the Democrats riding rough shod over the John Bolton nomination in a matter of hours.

You cannot deal with Democrats in politics. “Be reasonable” to them means: “do it my way”.

It is time to put the “Constitutional Option”, the so-called “Nuclear Option”, back on the table in the Senate. These childish antics of the Democrats on the federal judges, and on John Bolton, are trial runs for the “big show”, the Supreme Court nominees. We need to lock in the “simple majority vote” by squelching the filibuster option right now! If we don’t, there will be hell to pay.

As far as the names and electron years of the 7 dwarfs above, I plan to continuous keep their names and election years before readers of “Insight” until after the 2008 election. Republicans need a purge of the moderate Republicans in the Senate. They are far more dangerous to the country than the Democrats.

And then, there is John McCain. I haven’t been as disappointed in a politician in a very long time. Not since Richard Nixon. Sad to say, but Nixon did far less damage to the Republican Party than McCain is doing. I'd like to see a ”Dump McCain Movement” begun as soon as possible... and show him the door. It will be tough, as we Conservatives now have two foes in the Senate, the Democrats, and the moderate Republicans. We can’t do much about the Democrats, but we can surely bring a tremendous load of pressure to bear on the seven dwarfs.

How much longer will Howard Dean remain as Chairman of the Democratic National Committee? Depends. On how much more money the Democrats can afford to lose. Or to put it another way… how long can they afford the huge drop in donations since Dean took office.

The old-line Democrats knew, instinctively, that Dean was a terrible choice for the post. They acquiesced to the young, loudly liberal, and even more loudly “socialist” wing of the party… and it has cost them... dearly. Not just in money but also in prestige, in party loyalty, and most importantly…in respect. They have become the butt of more jokes than they care to think about. To an outsider, looking in, it appears the inmates have truly taken over the insane asylum.

The Democrat Party seems rudderless. Floundering about in stormy seas and headed for the rocks. There is no direction, no destination, and no Captain of the ship. It is a mess! The former majority party has now become the minority party in the US and declining swiftly. Their role in the national legislative body, Congress, has become that of “obstructionists”. They have no plans to counter Republican plans…on anything. They can only hope to create as much disorder, as is necessary, to make the Republican mission as difficult as possible. But they can only continue this role for a short time. That time has nearly run out. The American voter has about had all they want of this exercise in futility by Congressional Democrats.

Where are their thinkers? Where are their leaders? Where have their great intellects gone? Could it be they no longer wish to be associated with a party, which has slipped so far to the left, they are now referred to as the American Socialist/Democrat party? Could that be it?

As a Republican, I like winning… and I like to see my opponent in distress. But I do not like to see my opponent humiliated. Especially when the source of that humiliation is coming from the ranks of their own party!

It’s fun to win a contest. But it’s more fun to win a contest against a worthy opponent. Lately, it has been no fun winning against the Democratic Party. It smacks of a professional athletic team in contest with a collegiate team. There’s no contest.

There are three reasons, as I see it, for the Democrat Party’s current distress: Kennedy, Kerry, and Gore. Oh, there are other contributors, I’m sure, but these three share the most blame. Their leadership led the party off the cliff. Their continued insistence on the even more leftward motion of the party only serves to burn bridges the party can ill afford to burn. Too many avenues to regeneration have been destroyed already.

Rumor has it the real brains of the Democratic Party are mounting an effort to “dump Dean” and try to resuscitate the party. They haven’t a moment to lose! With another election approaching next year, they are looking at even more losses in the US Senate and the US House. Losses they can no longer afford.

Frankly a few years ago, I thought the Republican Party would be the party to split into two distinct political parties with the right wing pulling out to create the Conservative Party. Now, it appears it will be the Democrat Party which will split with the moderate Democrats pulling out and leaving the crowd, in charge now, as the “Socialist/Democrat Party”, headed by the triumvirate of Kennedy, Kerry, and Gore.

The next election is next year. You knowhow to vote. Your choice is “clear cut”. At the moment, I am not sure who, among those listed above, will be up for election in ’06, but we Conservatives have looooong memories and the election of ‘08 is not that far away.

Remember, Sen. Frist needs only two votes, from just two of the seven Republicans above, to implement the “Constitutional Option”…. even now! There is still a chance he may pull the trigger when the Supreme Court Nominees are filibustered by the Democrats, as they are sure to be.

A couple of days ago, on this blog, I said I did not believe the Republicans would go through with it. Sadly, I was correct. It is one of those times I am truly sorry to be right!

And finally, how much longer must the Republican Party suffer the millstone of John McCain around our necks? When will he fold his tent and slip away?

McCain is the best man the Democrats have! When will his anger at President Bush, over the SC Primary, be spent? Any chance of McCain winning the Republican Presidential nomination in ’08 is gone! Would that McCain was gone from the ranks of the Republican Party!

As a Republican I am furious with my party for caving to the Democrats on the Constitutional option and allowing the Democrats to continue their filibuster of judicial nominees. For that is exactly what happened when 6 Democrats and 6 Republicans got together and decided what the entire Senate would do.

This is unforgivable behavior by the Republicans in that group and all need to be driven form the ranks of the Republican Party.

Mr. Frist has just lost his shot at the Presidential nomination just as Mr. McCain lost his. I’d like to see a list of the names of those Republicans who took part in that agreement with the Democrats. I like to see it published so we would all know. We, as a party, need to see that none of the six Republican senators are re-elected. None of them!

The Republican part proved, with this agreement, it does not have what it takes to govern this nation. Not by a long shot. By caving to the Democrats the Republicans lost the Conservatives their shot at securing the Supreme Court for the first time in recent history. This is unforgivable. It is unconscionable. It is distasteful; it is traitorous to the Republican Party.

I am so angry I cannot express it. For once in my life I am at a loss for words to describe my feelings. A word, which does come to mind, is betrayal! I feel betrayed! I wasted my votes thinking I was voting for men and woman with the cahones to get the job done, I was mistaken. When the pressure was applied they folded like a cheap suit. It is disgusting! Utterly disgusting!

My option now is to look around for another party. I’m a lifelong republican, but when the party I have supported and worked so hard for betrays me as they did in this agreement with the democrats, I no longer feel I can remain among them.

We have a Southern Party in the beginnings of development. It is a true conservative party. Maybe they can use an old warhorse, like me. It is obvious the Republicans do not value their conservative supporters.

It will be a long time… a very long time, before this “selling out” of the right wing of the Republican Party, by Republicans is forgotten.

Monday, May 23, 2005

Well, tomorrow is the day the Republicans are supposed to bring the hammer down on the judicial filibuster in the US Senate.

I don’t think they’ll do it! I am of the opinion those guys in GOP suits in the Senate are just too scared of the MSM and the Democrats…which is the same thing, of course!

Rumors have been rampant, over the weekend, that there were meetings, after meetings, between the Democrats and the Republican to try to reach an agreement. That is simply another way for Democrats to say: “Be reasonable…do it my way!”

I have watched as the Republicans gingerly tip-toed around this issue…and it makes me sick! For heaven’s sake Republicans, bring the hammer down! Now is the time to govern! If you have it in you at all… now’s the time.

How is it possible the Republicans have developed such weak knees? How is it possible they have grown more afraid of he MSM than they are of their own constituents back home?

Maybe it’s time to flood their offices with phone calls and e-malls in an attempt to bolster their dwindling courage a bit.

Oh, by the way, Senator McCain will never get the Republican nomination for President. Never. You moderates can stop worrying about that. He blew it last time around and his kow-towing to the Democrats, in the Senate, over this filibuster disaster, simply locks the door. He is as close to the Presidency today as he will ever get.

The same thing holds for Senator Frist. If he cannot get his troops together to ram this “Constitutional Option” thru, he sure as heck doesn’t have what it takes to be President, so his name comes off the short list…and the long one too. It will be over for his ambition to move any higher in National politics.

My wing of the Republican Party is not interested in a compromise, of any kind. No deals. We want the filibuster of Judicial Nominees stopped, ended, and the Presidents nominees confirmed and on the bench. Then we can move on to take care of the Supreme Court. That, after all, IS the Target here!

Saturday, May 21, 2005

Sometime ago, the US Armed Forces captured a terrorist training manual. It is interesting to note that terrorist recruits are instructed, or trained, to make claims of mistreatment as prisoners at the hands of US soldiers. They are trained to make claims of abuse of their religion, Islam.

Why do I bring this up? It’s very simple, really.

The enemies of the US know the Mainstream Media (MSM), in America, will do their job for them. You see, they know if they make such claims, even with no proof, the MSM will take it, and run with it, plastering it all over their papers and all over their news broadcasts. They know the political Left will work themselves up into a “holier than thou” façade of outrage and will insist that the “mean ole US of A” stop treating those sweet, defenseless, innocent terrorists in such horrible, horrible ways! Of course, this feeds right into the fury of the practitioners of Islam and their flaming hatred for America grows.

Understand: the American Left wants nothing more than to see the American military defeated. If they can embarrass a Republican President at the same time, they’re ecstatic!

The enemies of America, all over the world, know the North Vietnamese used the American press, and the American Left, to win their victory in Viet Nam. The North Vietnamese played the American press, and the American Left, like a violin. The naive Left, in the US, lent themselves to the enemies of America… and their efforts were invaluable to the victory of the North Vietnamese. Many of us will never forgive the Left for that. Never!

Since then, the enemies of the US have made use of the MSM in America to accomplish their ends. And it works… every time!

They are still doing it! The MSM salivates when given the opportunity to embarrass the US, the Bush Administration, and the US Military.

The Left hates the Bush Administration with a burning, bitter, visceral hatred.. They hate the US Military. They hate the success the US has made of itself as a free nation. The American Left still worships the old Socialist government of the former Soviet Union. They will not accept the failure of the USSR even after those 70 years of totalitarian control of the Soviet peoples. They hate the freedom Americans have to make of themselves what they wish…. and they take great pride in being the first voice heard from the “Hate America”, and “Blame America First” crowd.

As a result, we have the “American abuse of prisoners” stories, the “abuse of the Koran” stories, and now, the photo of Saddam Hussein, in his underwear, splashed across newspapers and TV screens around the world. It’s all a part of the Left’s efforts to bring the US down. I have come to believe the American Left would join hands with Satan, himself, if it would mean embarrassing, or even bringing harm to the very country which allows them the freedom to make fools of themselves as they attack the only thing standing between them and outright slavery.

It’s sick! It’s disgusting… and it’s done everyday!

Pick up your newspaper, turn on your TV, or radio, and you’ll read it, or see it, or hear it…those barely concealed daggers of hate aimed right at the heart of America.

Enemies of the US know they have an ally in the Left wing in America. It is shameful and saddening, for they are so out of touch, with reality, they don’t understand, or refuse to admit to themselves, this fact: Should the enemies of this nation, God forbid… gain control of America, they (the Left) would be in the first group, herded together, and placed against the wall… to be shot!

There is simply no excuse for their behavior. It is beyond shameful. It is beyond forgiveness!

Thursday, May 19, 2005

Well, the fur began to fly in the Senate yesterday! Republicans are beginning the exercise of instituting the “Constitutional Option”, known by Democrats as the “Nuclear Option”.

The Democrats are howling, as we knew they would, and pleading for a compromise. Remember… compromise to the Democrats means: “Do it our way!” It isn’t going to work this time!

But this posting is not about the debate in the Senate. It is about something nearly as important. The awful service of Cable TV companies and the outrageous rates they are allowed to charge.

As I sat down to absorb myself in the Senate debate yesterday, I learned that my Cable Company had taken C-SPAN - 2 off my cable. No doubt they replaced it with some “shopping network”, or something of equally inane, mind numbing, pocket fleecing, programming.

I currently pay in excess of $60.00 a month for channels, which are never viewed. I dare say 90% of the channels on my Cable hook-up are never viewed in my home. Yet I must pay for them in order to get the handful I do watch.

It is past time for the FCC to force Cable Providers in this country to offer a Carte Blanche system for their subscribers, which will allow subscribers to pick and choose only the channels they want on their cable hook-ups. No more packaging of good quality channels with channels of much lesser quality and of practically no interest to subscribers.

Now, I am not so naive as to believe that the cost per channel will not escalate for it surely will! The Cable companies will scream “bloody murder” to the FCC and to Congress that the “Carte Blanche rule” will put them out of business. It won’t… but that will be their argument. In the meantime, the cost per channel will shoot through the roof. To get the handful of channels I now actually watch, will most likely cost me as much as that which I pay now for the truck load of channels I never watch , at all.

The Cable companies have been allowed to run amok and prices for their services have risen out of all portion to the services their customer receives. It is now time for the federal government to step in. Hard regulation is now called for. When companies doing business, in this country, themselves are unable, or unwilling, to serve their customers responsibly, then they are opening the door, and holding that door open, for government intervention. That is what the Cable TV companies in this country have done. Our new Federal Communications Commission is about to enter thru that open door. What follows will not be pretty. But Cable TV providers simply have to understand… whatever happens… they brought it on themselves.

I have been a subscriber for at least 30 years to the same Cable Company, if not the largest, then certainly one of the largest, cable companies in America. I am now investigating the advantages of switching to a satellite provider. Cable rates have consistently risen over those 30 years and the quality of the product entering my home has not risen commensurate with rates. Something must change. It appears I will make the change.

As a 30-year veteran of the broadcasting business, this was a difficult blog posting to write, but at some point, those who dance must pay the fiddler. It is past time for the Cable Companies in America to ante up!

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

It would seem the Mainstream Media, in the US at least, has lost its mind. With major broadcast outlets and print media rushing stories onto the air, or onto the printed page, without due diligence, they have forever tainted their vaunted professionalism and their much proclaimed accuracy in reporting.

Lately, the Press has made of itself ... a laughing stock. Most Americans will never look at, or read, the news, again, with the same assurance that what they are reading is true. How can they?

It should be clear, to anyone with ears to hear and eyes to see... the MSM in this country has an agenda. Simply put, it is to “get Bush and the GOP”. They are no longer even trying to conceal it! They are bending the rules of journalism right, and left, in their attempts to make the Bush Administration look bad in the eyes of the world. They have succeeded only in making themselves look foolish and amateurish. It is painful to watch the suicide of a once great American institution… the free press. Fast approaching is a time when the Congress of the United States will place restraints on the press… to one degree or another…with the support of the American electorate. Remember, the First Amendment was not part of the original Constitution. Do not think it is permanent! If put to the American people today, frankly, I doubt it's survival. It would deeply wound the press in this country. But, it would be a self-inflicted wound.

The MSM has forgotten that along with freedom, comes responsibility. They continue to abuse that freedom as they trip over one another to bolster the Left’s agenda in this country and tear down anything not to their liking… such as... anything Conservative. No longer are editorials printed on the editorial pages only. Now you will find editorial comment on the front page of major newspapers all over the nation. Oftimes, it is billed as “News Analysis”. It is, of course, editorializing... mixed into the hard news stories. It appears their hope is that at some point their readers will no longer be able to discriminate between the two.

Much, if not most, of the Media in the US, is supportive of the Left’s political agenda. Those of us on the right accepted that long ago, and we have begun to fight back with our own news channels and radio talk shows and the Internet. It is the Right’s way of bypassing the Left’s filters on the broadcast media. Now, we Conservatives take our message directly to the people. And it is working. Little by little we have gained a foothold among the listening, and reading, public and continued our steady progression of “getting the truth out” to the masses. The MSM has become so overwrought with our success they have panicked and, as a result of that panic; we see the major screw-ups of the past few months by both broadcast and print media. And this is only the beginning.

The left’s hatred of the Bush Administration, and anything to do with the "Conservative Movement" in this country, has blinded them to anything but their own desire to render harm, as often as is possible, to the source of their hatred. It is a bitter, visceral hatred. They are consumed by it. These are the folks who preach "tolerance", remember?

My own regional newspaper publishes, in the “A” section of the paper, every day, a rolling body count of the number of US soldiers killed in Iraq. They have often stated their view of the Iraq War. They have made it plain they do not support anything conservative. A large Northeastern newspaper owns them. Their parent company often acts wittingly, or not, as the mouthpiece of the Democratic Party in this country. If you wish to read a newspaper, in this part of my state, that is your only choice. There is no conservative source for the printed news. So many of us turn to the Internet. Oftimes, I find I have to go "offshore" to find an unbiased newspaper from which to get the news of events happening right here in the US. Often, I choose Australian Newspapers.

The time is fast approaching when the American Public will not only tolerate, but will insist upon a restrictions on the freedom of the press in the US. A curtailment, if you please. Those who abuse the free press must be held accountable. It is painful for me to admit that even I would support certain restrictions on the press’ freedom.

Great Britain has the "Official Secrets Act". The British press is barred from reporting on subjects the government decides fall under the auspices of that Act. I would support that for the American Press. They can no longer be trusted. The MSM has demonstrated itself to be untrustworthy and is no longer acting as an unbiased purveyor of truth. (If they ever were!)

My hard news comes from The Fox News Channel and the Internet. I do not have access to a newspaper, nor magazine, I trust. I am not alone. Millions of Americans find themselves in the very same position, as regards the news. Newspaper readership is down. Way down. Need they ask why? Ratings for news on the Broadcast Channels of TV is way off. (Except for the cable based Fox News Channel.) The pioneer of Cable News is now a joke, barely a shadow of it’s previous self. The MSM has yet to learn that people are no longer dependent upon them to deliver the news. Now, any individual, with a PC, can go find the news, at any hour of the day or night. He can look, until he finds a source he trusts, and he will continue to support that source, leaving past loyalties to print and broadcast media behind. That is happening all over this nation.

There is a new day coming in the business of news reporting in America. It will not be that to which we have become accustomed. This will be different. It will take a few years to make the switch-over complete, but stunts, similar to those recently, by major broadcast and print giants, will hasten the day. For some of us, it can’t come soon enough!

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Why these two? Because they are both riddled with politics and I firmly believe there is no place for politics in either.

First, “de-fund” the Center for Public Broadcasting, PBS. If there is anyone left who believes the Public Broadcasting System is above politics, that person must be living on a different planet that the rest of us. The Left has used public broadcasting as a soapbox for their peculiar brand of politics, almost, since day one. Now that the Right has its foot in the door and a chance of bringing some balance to the programming of PBS, the Left is howling in protest! A propaganda tool for the left is being taken away. The pain is unbearable! Oh, woe is the Left! Our message to them; “get over it!” Our message to Congress: “De-fund the entire PBS Broadcasting System. De-fund it and invite them to do what the remainder of the broadcasting stations, and networks, must do in order to survive. Go commercial. Sell ads to cover the cost of programs, equipment, upkeep, and payroll.

Now, the Left understands that the moment Congress de-funds them, it will be over and they will be off the air. Without government funds (my money and yours. The government has no money.) they cannot get enough monetary support from the public to remain on the air.

Now, I, along with a few million other Americans, resent having to help pay for a propaganda machine (with our tax money) which spews forth the Left’s propaganda. On the other hand, if they can obtain enough monetary support, from the public, to stay on the air… they can certainly join the ranks of the other major Left-wing broadcasting networks…you know, the ones we refer to as the MSM, Mainstream Media.

If there was any doubt of the “leftwards leaning” of the press in this country, broadcast and print, the recent poll showing 70% of them voted for the Democratic ticket, should erase that doubt.

Now: “Star Wars”. I have been a fan of this series of movies since day one. I have the entire collection, save for the newest release. Sad to say, I will not see this one, and I am strongly thinking of burning my collection of Star Wars movies.

Why? It turns out the Star Wars folks just couldn’t help themselves. They had to inject politics into their production… anti- Bush, anti-Conservative, and pro Left wing politics at that.

I don’t know about you, but if I pay good money to be entertained at a movie theatre, or upon the purchase of a DVD, I do not expect, nor do I want, a political lecture from the stars, the producers, or directors, or any one having to do with the film. It would seem the makers of “Star Wars” have done that. I have lost all interest in their product and the collection I have acquired, over the years, has zero value now.

The empty-headed Hollywood types should keep their politics to themselves. In the days of the “studios” spewing your politics publicly would find you out on the street, on your backside, in short order, and another contract “star” in your place…in hours! Oh, for the days of the Hollywood Studios and “contract” stars.

Look closely at the two entities above and you will see a common thread running through both. It is that common thread I find unacceptable.

Monday, May 16, 2005

This week will tell the tale on the Supreme Court nominees to come before the Senate in the next few months. Word is quietly filtering thru Washington, and the Republican ranks, that there will be two Supreme Court Justices retiring soon after this term of the Court ends. So what happens this week in the US Senate will decide whether Conservatives get their Conservative Justices confirmed to the Supreme Court, or not.

Senator Bill Frist, the Majority Leader in the Senate, has said he will bring one of President Bush’s nominee’s to the federal bench before the full Senate this week. If that happens, we will see the so-called “nuclear option” finally brought into play. Simply put, it would not allow filibustering of judicial nominees.

If the current nominees to the Federal Bench get thru the Senate, and are confirmed, the Democrats fear the President will choose two of them as the new Supreme Court Justices… and as they will have already been confirmed once, by the full Senate, it will be nearly impossible for the Democrats to stop them from gaining their seats on the Supreme Court. Republicans will have effectively broken the liberal stranglehold on the Supreme Court. Once the Supreme Court has been set free of the Left’s grasp, they, the Left, will be completely out of power. The courts are the last bastion of Leftist power left in the US government. The Left has used the Federal Courts as their “legislature” for too many years and have instituted laws, by judicial fiat, in this country, which have no basis in the Constitution. It is well past time this be corrected.

We will know, this week, if the Republicans, we conservatives sent to the Senate, are serious about governing, or are too scared to govern. If it turns out to be the latter, we recommend they take early retirement… or we will do it for them at the next election.

Sunday, May 15, 2005

I see news accounts referring to the US sealing the Syrian/Iraqi border and how successful that has been. That border needs sealing; there is no question about that. But there is another border which is causing many Americans far more concern that the Iraqi/Syrian border, and that’s our southern border between Mexico and the US.

It is now as plain as the nose on your face it is the Bush Administration stopping the enforcement of border laws and encouraging the US Border patrol to allow those illegal Immigrants into the country. It has to stop. There is simply no reason we can’t assign the duty of guarding the border to National Guard troops or Army Reserve troops. If that is not allowed under the “Posse Comitatus” law, then we should create a “Home Guard” to do nothing but seal our borders.

The embarrassment caused the Border Patrol and the Administration by the Minutemen will not go unpunished… for long. I expect those Minute Men to be arrested for “interfering with a law enforcement officer in the performance of his duties” at any time now. It will be payback time for the Border Patrol and the current Administration in Washington.

The safety of the citizens of the US is in Jeopardy. If the Republicans will not see to the security of their own constituents, them we do not need them in power in the nations government. The Democrats have proven themselves just as bad.

Further, I want to see employers of illegal aliens put in jail. They know, when they hire them, they are illegal. There simply is no excuse for that. Put them in jail along with the illegals.

Americans are quickly reaching the point of endorsing concertina wire and land mines along our southern border. We are being over run with illegals from every country under the sun. The southern border is an open door. If we keep it open we are going to pay the price.

I’d hate to see a mushroom cloud over Chicago, or Atlanta, or some other great city in America. But there is much evidence which points to terrorists successfully gaining entrance into the US across the wide-open Southern Border. What are they bringing with them… a suitcase nuke? We don’t know. It’s past time to stop it.

We here at Insight, urge you to write your Congressmen and Senators and tell them to lean on the Administration to seal or Southern Border.

You can bet this will be a campaign issue next Presidential election, as well it should be!

Saturday, May 14, 2005

In just a few brief hours, I will be taking part in a Confederate Memorial Day Celebration here in North Carolina.

Many of us will stand misty-eyed as the Confederate Battle Flag is run up the flagpole at our county’s courthouse. The flag, actually the Confederate Naval Jack, will fly proudly in the breeze until our activities for the day are finished. A “color guard” will raise the flag, lovingly, and with reverence, this morning. A 21-gun salute will be fired by the detachment of Confederate re-enactors as the flag reaches its destination high atop the staff. The unfurling of the St. Andrew’s Cross against the Carolina blue sky is a sight to behold. As the troops march away to other activities for the day, a lone guard will march unceasingly, back and forth, by the flag laden staff, for the duration of the Confederate Memorial Day event on this beautiful May morning in North Carolina.

Most of us gathered at the Courthouse will retire to a picturesque cemetery on the outskirts of town where the service of remembrance will be held. Soon the old cemetery will be teeming with tarheels, both young and old, some in their Sunday best, and other in jeans and sport shirts, and even some in shorts and sandals. A common thread runs thru the ranks of the onlookers. They are Southerners, and as such, feel a deep-seated need to show appreciation for the sacrifice made by the legendary men of the Confederate Armed Forces, The Confederate Army, the Confederate Navy, and the Confederate Marine Corp. Nearly every one of those people gathered in the cemetery today will have direct blood and DNA links to the Confederate Veterans who lie cradled in the loving arms of the Southern soil from which they came.

Confederate Memorial Day, here, is always a day of solemn, dignified, services complete with Southern patriotic speeches, and “wreath laying” at Confederate tombs, Confederate Re-enactors marching, and wheeling, and firing their replicated weapons… all in honor of the epic deeds of the men of the Confederate Armed Forces and their unequaled honor and courage, daring and bravery, now legendary around the world.

We will take this day to allow ourselves to feel the pride at the sight of the Confederate Battle Flag snapping in the morning breeze, reaching inland from the Atlantic Ocean, and the North Carolina Flag of Secession, which was the first flag North Carolina had, as an official state flag, and still flies today with only the dates changed. As we stand proudly and recall the faded pictures grandma and grandpa used to show us of our brave boys in gray, their father, or grandfather, remembered, and mourned, to this day. We remember the sacrifice Southern families made as they fought a fledgling world superpower for their independence from a country they felt had betrayed them by denying them their rights as Americans.

We will look upon a new monument raised in honor of the Confederate Veterans buried in this old, immaculately kept, place of eternal rest. We will read the inscriptions and weep. For here lies that great, great, grandfather depicted in those faded photos shown us by grandma and grandpa. We have never met, save through those pictures, and yet, we know him. We know him because the sane blood flows in our veins, the same DNA, along with echoes of his personality, his passion, his spirit, his unselfish bravery, and his love for his home… the land of Dixie.

Our hearts will nearly burst with pride. Our minds will race backwards in time to wonder what would it really be like had the Confederate Forces won the great fight. And we will be satisfied that things would have, somehow, been better than they are today.

And finally we will tread softly among the simple white grave stones with the “CV” carved upon it, some with names and rank and some with nothing but “CV”, the identity of the soldier lying beneath it lost in the mists of time… forever forgotten, save for those who have taken an oath to preserve his memory for the generations yet unborn. The small St. Andrew’s Cross, on the tiny Confederative Battle Flag fluttering above his resting place, will mark his place the same as the Colonel’s, or the Major’s, or the Captains’, or the Lieutenant’s. In death, no rank applies; there is no privilege of rank here.

As we quietly, and reverently, tow our children, and grandchildren, from gravesite to gravesite, on our cheeks we feel the feathery touch of the wingtips of unseen angels standing guard over these heroes of the Southland.

And finally we will leave that hallowed ground, where lie our heroes, and wind our way back to our respective homes.

As we close this day of remembrance we will vow, to never forget. To never allow our families to forget. And unlike many pledges we make ourselves, this one we will keep. We have no choice. The men among whose graves we have just trod near, gave everything for their beloved Southland in the hope that we would be free of the constraints of a government their Grandfathers had helped to create. A government they felt had let them down. They fought the army of a foe many times their size, with an inexhaustible supply of men and materiel, to a bloody standstill, while the politicians, behind the lines, created another government, the Confederate States of America, a country which would be ruled only by the voice of God and her people. It was an impossible deed. A dream? No. Not a dream, for it was created, this Southern Government, but it’s life was cut short while still in infancy.

Many ask why we don’t forget the war and allow it to slip into that place of lost memories. We can’t forget, we must not forget. To do so would mean we lose out identity, our sense of self, our sense of family, and most important of all, our sense of honor. We must honor our heroes. We are their blood kin, their sons and daughters. Yes, dear reader, we are the sons and daughters of heroes! And we must act like it!

Friday, May 13, 2005

Will the US Senate approve John Bolton as the new US Ambassador to the UN now that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has reported his nomination out of committee… without a recommendation?

I expect the Senate Democrats to play their obstructionist games when his nomination comes to the floor of the full Senate. With their usual “spoiled children tantrums” and howls of anguish, they will march to the podium and spew their hateful rhetoric onto the public record, and the left wing press, waiting with baited breath, will rush to print, and broadcast, their every nuance, and their carefully constructed character assassination as they continue their rabid attempts to discredit the Bush administration. In the end, they will be defeated… again… and Bolton will be confirmed. Now, Senator Reid, who is the “loser”?

The problem we had in the Foreign Relations Committee, and the problem we have in the full Senate, is that the Democrats and the “moderate” Republicans are satisfied with the UN, just as it is, and they do not want to rock the boat. The President is not satisfied… at all… and wants to REALLY rock the boat at the UN. John Bolton is the man to state the US position and present it as immovable and unchangeable. He will plant the US flag and not be swayed by the wheeling and dealing of the diplomats in pinstriped suits.

The UN is a mess! It is currently self-destructing. There may be a slim chance of saving it, and the appointment of Bolton, as the Ambassador, is the President’s way of making an attempt at reform… before it is entirely too late. Frankly, I believe it is too late and that the US should pull out of the UN at the earliest possible moment.

We can no longer continue to pour US dollars down a rat hole. For that is what the UN has become. It is a farce. It should be dissolved and another institution built from the ground up to replace it. The new institution should be supportive of democrat nations. The UN has allowed itself to be taken over by non- democratic nations and it is being run as they run their third world countries. There is greed, and avarice, and the lust for power and for money is rampant. Spying is also rampant at the UN. Diplomatic immunity covers a host of sins. Ask the City of New York about how easy it is to collect on parking tickets given to the cars of diplomats from the UN.

Their troops in countries all over the globe are uncontrollable. For the most part they are ineffective as a military force.

There is extremely bad accounting for the millions of dollars flowing thru the UN complex each year.

The whole place is in a teetotal mess. It’s time to bulldoze it and start anew.

One suggestion: Next time, put that building someplace besides the US…please. We’ve about had our fill of diplomacy… UN style.

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

The months of April and May, in the Southland are precious. For it is during these two months we celebrate our Confederate Ancestors. The Classic, Epic, Legendary exploits of the Confederate Soldier are emblazoned across the pages of World History. His deeds are lauded the world over, save in the United States of America. Here he is called a traitor, a rebel, and those are just the “nice” names he is called.

Here in the Southland, in Dixie, no finer example of manhood can be found… anywhere. We love our Men in Gray with a burning passion that transcends time. Our bodies carry the memory of their exploits in it’s very DNA. Our blood is their blood. It flows hot in our veins.

Just yesterday, I stood in a cemetery and watch as a father and his son, went quietly to each simple white headstone with “CV” upon it, and lovingly placed a small Confederate Battle Flag just in front of the headstone. Turns out this man, and his son, have been doing this for some years now. He wants no public acknowledgement for his act of love and kindness. Why, then, does he do it? He feels he must. The gratitude he feels for the sacrifices made by the Confederate Soldier burns in all Southerners. It is a flame, which will not be extinguished.

To northern friends who will never understand… who cannot understand, our love for the “Lost Cause’, we advise you, tread softly with your criticism of our heritage, our culture, our heroes, our flags. For the CSA is more than a memory. It lives today as surely as it lived in 1861. With every attempt by those who hate the South to denigrate our Southern Icons, the South grows stronger. The CSA grows stronger. It lies quietly, yet vibrant, with the burning passion of the Southern people to realize the dream the CSA was denied it’s right to fulfill.

The CSA lives in the hearts of all Southerners. It exists as surely as the human heart cries out for freedom and liberty. The Southern heart yearns for the rights it was denied at the point of a bayonet. It’s forced union with people of a totally different culture has been strained these 140 years since the guns were silenced at Appomattox, Virginia. Those forced bonds only fuel the fires of our memories, memories of a time past when our brave young men, and old men, badly dressed and often barefooted, marched forth to meet the invading army of a fledgling world superpower and fight it to a stand still for four long, bloody, years. They did it in the name of Southern Rights and Southern Independence.

The honor of those men is sacred to us as Southerners. As we gather amongst their graves we speak in hushed tones of reverence for their deeds and the motivation that drove them to hurl themselves at an army threatening their homes. We know that Southerners alive today are but echoes of those men. For in our veins flows their blood, their DNA. In our hearts burns the passion of the men in Gray. It is an eternal flame. Forever it will light our paths as we struggle our way through the lies, distortions, and dishonor, heaped upon the South by those whose actions are rooted in ignorance and hatred of a people whose pride in their heritage and history is a palpable, living, breathing thing, indeed, a way of life, which those who do not understand can never partake.

Forget? Never! We cannot. It is our history, our story. They are our heroes. We are their children. As Children of Heroes we can do no other.

Now, before they huddle and decide how to spend that surplus… as they always do, permit me, please, to make a suggestion:“Give the money back! It’s not the state's! It belongs to us and we want it back!!! Give the surplus back to the NC taxpayers in the form of tax rebate checks!"

While I’m at it, I’d like to suggest a couple of other things as well. Reduce our taxes, so you don’t continue to take too much of our money. Reduce spending, so you won’t need as much of our money. It’s elementary.

The state has no money… none! The state manufactures nothing. It produces nothing. So, how does it lay claim to our money? Because, fellow “tar heel”, we allow it.

Maybe it’s time to look at doing away with the state income tax in North Carolina. Our sister state, to the south, is investigating that possibility right now. If they do it in South Carolina, how long do lawmakers, north of the border, think the citizens of North Carolina will allow them to continue picking our pockets? Not long, I assure you.

I can hear the threats coming now from the State Legislative Building in Raleigh. “If we cut taxes we’ll have to reduce services to the citizens of the state”.

OK. Do it.

Go ahead and cut taxes and reduce services to us! Heck, I’ll bet the majority of the citizens of this state would vote the same way!

I think we’d be surprised at how many of the services, supplied by the state to her people, (at the expense of the people, of course) we can do without!

This would be a bold excursion into uncharted territory by our state officials. They would be going where no NC State Lawmaker has gone before. Actually listening to their constituents… and responding, affirmatively, to their suggestions. What an experience! What a joy! What a delight.

What a DREAM!!

Of course it’ll never happen in North Carolina. Lawmakers are addicted to our money. It is a source of power for them…doling out funds to organizations which support them, etc, etc.

Maybe it’s time for a little cold turkey for our tax addicts in Raleigh!

Sunday, May 8, 2005

One of my “Pet Peeves” is men who do not “uncover” when they enter a house, or a public building, such as a restaurant. (For those of you unfamiliar with military terms…”uncover” means to remove your “cover”…or hat)

Yes, I am a Southerner. But, I’m do not believe this extremely discourteous, and rude practice, began with Southerners. I’m about as Southern as one can get and I remove my hat when coming indoors. In my home, as a boy, the quickest way to get yelled at was to enter the house with your hat still on. The instant your feet crossed the threshold, into my mother’s domain, the hat came off. Now, the cardinal sin within a southern family is for one to appear at the dinner/lunch table with your hat on. It just isn’t done. Well, it wasn’t done until fairly recently. It is disgusting to see a person; Southerner or northerner sitting at table in a restaurant… eating… with his hat still perched on his head. It speaks of low breeding.

The hat on the head while inside another’s home is a sure sign of disrespect. When you remove your hat upon entering another’s home you are saying, “I am in your hone as a guest, and I recognize that I am at your mercy, as this is your domain.”

In olden days, when a man’s home was truly his castle, a show of disrespect, such as not removing your hat in his castle, could cost the offender not just his hat, but the head residing just beneath it, as well. This was serious business.

It has been my contention for some time that we have lost something as a society when we lost the “genteelness” which was so much a part of who we were, especially Southerners. I suppose that is one of the reasons I am drawn to the 19th century American history. It was during that period that the word “gentleman’ meant something. “Lady” was also a sign of deep respect …one the feminist movement tossed out a number of years ago. Now, for a woman to be referred to as lady is taken as a sign of disrespect! Our society has lost a great deal in the past 30 years, or so. We have become crass, rude, discourteous, impolite, and, I’ll use a word no longer in use today: “common”. Even here, in the American South, the last bastion of good manners, we too, are slipping into the “Me, too” mindset which is founded on one’s own selfish motives and inflated self esteem now taught our children in the public/government schools.

We have lost something as a people. We have lost our own self-respect. Our society is doomed. All because men will not remove their hats while indoors, you may ask? No, that is but a sign, a marker, of the passing of a great society where the value of a human being was not in question.

In America’s rush to embrace “Socialism” commonality is a must. The destruction of the “class system” is a must. The political correctness crowd, the vanguard of American Socialism, has done a smashing job of destroying the American class system in their rush to create a single class. They do not understand, or they choose to overlook, the fact that removing the three classes (Lower, Middle, and Upper classes) removes a goal for Americans to strive towards. When an American has nothing to set his sights on, no goal to work toward, he soon becomes discouraged and simply falls back into the darkness of low self-esteem and accepts that his position in life will never change for the better and he is trapped. All hope is gone. Without hope all is lost.

Good manners were always about respect… respect for the other person. Look around you. Where do you see that respect today? It is all but non-existent. We, as Americans, have lost our respect for others, and as a result, we have lost our respect for ourselves.

If one wishes not to subscribe to a religion, in this country, that is perfectly OK. Nowhere is it written that you must belong to one faith, or the other, to be a good citizen, or even just to be a citizen. Nowhere.

At the same time, nowhere is it written that I can’t practice mine.

A not so careful reading of the 1st Amendment will demonstrate, to anyone with an open mind, the framers had nothing to say against the co-existance of religion and state. What they did not want to see was the state impose a particular religion, or denomination, on it’s people.

At the time the Constitution was written, some of the northeastern states/colonies had already established state churches. The churches in those states/colonies were a part of that state’s government. If you were a citizen of that state you were a member of that church. One, or two, European countries have the same state/church situation, even today, as the early colonies had in the 1700’s. When you are born, in those countries, you are born into the church. You remain a member until death, or, you go to court and ask a judge to allow you to leave that “state church”.

There is no such thing as separation of church and state in this country. I don’t believe the Constitution even suggests it. Only a myopic, left leaning, court could find that in the Constitution. They think they have. As soon as the conservative court becomes a fact, and not a figment of our imagination, that will be over-turned.

Having said all this, I still favor an amended 1st Amendment to make the practice of Islam illegal in the US. There are obvious reasons for outlawing that religion in this country.

Yes, this country was founded on the tenants of the Judeo-Christian faith. One cannot read any of our state documents, or any of our founding documents, or look at our national buildings, (even the Supreme Court Building) and not be aware of that fact. The individuals and organizations attempting to strip America of her Judeo-Christian Heritage will lose. It will be messy, and tempers are going to flare, but in the end they will lose.

On our money the slogan says: “In God We Trust”. Sometimes we have to be reminded of that. On the top of the Washington Monument are engraved, in Latin, the words “Praise Be To God!” My sentiments exactly!

Saturday, May 7, 2005

Oh, it’s going to happen. It’s a matter of time. And the time there is… is growing short.

Iran has been given every opportunity to get out of the nuclear bomb, an missile, business and they have spurned every opportunity. The west has run out of options. Save for one, possibly two.

One… to bomb the living daylights out of their known nuclear facilities. We my not get the main plant, which is said to be deep in the earth, but we can do enough damage to those facilities making ancillary equipment to slow down their progress.

The US “Left” has brought so much pressure to bear, thru the mainstream media in this country, on our politicians in Congress, they are afraid to utter anything, which might be construed as making war, or encouraging war, on Iran. Now, everybody knows it is coming. Save for some of the "intelligentsia". (Those educated beyond their abilities.) They don’t live on the same planet as the remainder of us, anyway.

First, Israel will have to deliver the first strike. And they will. The hand of the US will not be seen, but it will be there, and everybody will know that we will be involved, up to our necks, but we will have “Plausible Deniability”.

Why Israel. Because, they are the logical choice. They have the means and they have the motivation… self-preservation. Israel wants to live, and be free, and they know some things are worth fighting for, some things are worth putting your life, or the lives of your nations young people, on the line for. Liberty is one of those things. Unlike the American Left, Israeli’s have not forgotten their duty, to each other, to maintain their freedom.

So, Israel will make the first strike, with our help and backup.

The next step will be an all-out invasion to remove the mullahs in control of that nation. But first Special Forces will be stirring up the people of Iran against the mullahs and creating a popular rebellion within Iran’s borders. Then, US forces will march.

Look, we are in the Middle East to stay! Most likely forever. We cannot leave. We must keep a military presence where the trouble is located. That’s the Middle East!

In the meantime, the President will begin preparing the people of the US for a third front in the war on terrorism. Much will be in the news, in coming weeks, concerning the harshness of the Iranian Mullahs on the people of Iran who want their freedom. Much will be made of the threat Iran already poses to the US and ,of course, Israel. The United Nations will be dragged into it, kicking and screaming, and will, as usual, do nothing.

Friday, May 6, 2005

If I were a young man, just out of High School, I’d be searching for a college, or university, which offered a degree in “Audiology”.

If there is anything certain, besides death and taxes, it is that we have an entire generation of young people who will be deaf, or near deaf, by the age of 30 and a fellow with a degree in “Audiology” can make a fortune selling hearing aids!

Can anyone explain the burning desire of young people to share their music with other folks living two and three blocks away? Can you explain their generosity with the audio systems in their automobiles on the highway? What is this pathological urge to blast their music (I’m using the word “Music” here generously and graciously!) across five or six lanes of traffic to burst thru the windows of your car and cause your teeth to hurt?

Having asked the question, I will now attempt to shed some light on the subject before my young neighbors get home from school and start blasting the neighborhood with the sounds of jungle drums, or voodoo rituals in music.

What we have these days is a generation of self-centered, narcissistic, rude, crude, hedonists masquerading as members of a "social" society, which claims to actually care for one another! Whew! I feel better all ready!

Some of the amplifiers in automobiles today have more power than the Hiroshima bomb! If you are ever unfortunate enough to find yourself behind one of those $1500.00 cars with a $3000.00 sound system in it, watch the truck lid. Every time a bass note is struck the lid vibrates and nearly flies up. Now, I ask you, if the impact of that sound wave can nearly knock a trunk lid off it’s hinges, then what kind of damage is it doing to the eardrums of those near-humans in the passenger compartment of the car? Huh?

What possible good can come from a sound system that causes the floor of a home, two and three blocks away, to vibrate and the windowpanes to rattle?

Talk about air pollution! What ever happened to “Disturbing the peace"?

I recently read that the US military is seriously investigating the use of sound waves as a weapon of war. I can testify that it will do a great deal of damage to the enemy, starting with the loss of his sanity. If the military is, indeed, serious, I have a young neighbor, two, or three, blocks away; I’d like to introduce to them! Give this kid one amplifier and the entire Iranian, or North Korean, armies will surrender in short order! (Remember the US Army blasting Noriega, in Panama, with loud music until he surrendered?) Oh, yeah! It works! It can be lethal!

I have a friend who spent much of his life among the” mentally challenged” and even today resides in a group home. He is now in his mid sixties. After some recent testing, turns out he is as smart as the next guy. The problem was, all these years; he is deaf as a post! Which leads me to wonder… if all the blank faced young people, we see all around us today, are not really as dumb as they appear. Could they just be deaf?? (OK, I'll settle for 50 - 50.)

Thursday, May 5, 2005

How long will it take, after a nuclear attack on one of our great American cities, before we capitulate to the enemy?

A loaded question you say. Well, of course it is. I intended it that way.

I follow a number of blogs, on the Internet, and a common thread I see running thru the fabric of many of the blogs is the “liberal lack of courage”. Their blatant siding with the enemies of the United States, plus, their desire to surrender to the enemy rather than lose a single life to an enemy attack, or, in a war to stop the enemy from taking over this country and turning it into Muslim Theocracy, is perplexing, to say the least.

Why do they hate America so? (No, not the Muslims, the liberals!) What has America done to them, save allow them to grow up in security, and freedom, and get an education, and a relatively good job, raise a family of their own in safety, and send them to college, so they can earn a good living at a good job… and the cycle goes on and on.

Where, in all of this, lie the “seeds of hate” for the country which allows them all this? I cannot for the life of me find it. (Well, we all know that the college education with their “leftist professors” has a lot to do with it, but we’ve know this since the 30’s and the beginnings of the communist movement on our college campuses in America. Send your kid to college today and he, or she, is going to be indoctrinated in Socialism. That is a given. But, I’m getting away from the point of this post.)

I think we can all count on being hit, again, by terrorists…. in the US. Next time I expect a nuclear device, of some sort. Most likely in another large city, but not New York. The thing that worries me is the expected panic, and the expected rush to capitulate to the terrorist demands… prompted by the liberal whining, and constant complaining, that the current President Bush brought this all upon us.

Since John Kerry is already running for President, in 2008, maybe he will be sent to offer the surrender to the terrorists. (This should give you a hint as to how truly intelligent this man is. Everybody knows, if would seem, save for Mr. Kerry, that Hillary Clinton will be the Democrat candidate for president in ’08. Says a lot about Mr. Kerry, doesn’t it?)

I really hate to think that the US is becoming the biggest “wuss” on the planet, but if the trend continues, we will have become just that, and, we will not exist, as the US, a decade from that date.

We reared one generation of spineless brats…you know… the ones marching, and demonstrating, in the streets in support of the communists in Viet Nam. Now that generation has reared another generation of kids, even farther to the left that they are, and the next generation, is, well, pathetic. They can neither read nor write, yet they have diplomas from prestigious universities. They are hopelessly narcissistic, with hugely inflated egos, and empty heads. When trouble comes, and it will, they fold like a tent in a windstorm.

Yes, when I look around and survey the mess we have made of the greatest county on the planet, you bet I worry!

Frankly, I don’t know if we can turn it around. I do not see the drive, the determination, to live free that preceding generations of Americans exuded. It simply isn’t there anymore. It has been bred out of American children. I’m afraid we would rather bow our heads, drop to our knees, and live as slaves rather than stand up like the Americans of old and fight back.

Sorry about the pessimism in this post, but I think it is good to hold a mirror up to the face of Americans every once in a while so we can see what we really look like.

Wednesday, May 4, 2005

Congress is at the point of passing a bill, which will give the US a National ID card… a National Driver’s license.

Oh, the license will have the name of your state on it… and it will, purportedly, be issued by your state, but make no mistake about it, it WILL be a National Driver’s license, which will double as a National ID card.

The nationalization of your driver’s license will include such information, (mandated by the Federal Government) as: proof of citizenship. A digital photo of the licensee/applicant, and proof of his, or her, address, as well as proof that you, indeed, have a Social Security Number. If you are not a citizen, you must provide proof that you are in the country legally. A national registry, of some sort, will be set up, by the federal government, to list all non-citizens in the country and the “non-citizen applicant” will be checked against that registry. The legal non-citizen’s driver’s license will expire when, his, or her, visa expires. Oh, one other thing, there will be some sort of code, or indelible marking, on the license, itself, to prevent counterfeiting.

At first glance it doesn’t seem too bad, but look closer. The documents you present, to verify your citizenship, SS number, and address, as well as a digital photograph, will be copied and filed, or stored in a government data bank!

That, dear reader is the way the federal government will force us to carry a national ID card! And, all the time, you thought they couldn’t do it! Never underestimate the power of a government when it’s citizens are afraid.

I detest the very idea of a National ID card. It goes against everything for which America stands! It immediately brings to mind the line from so many “B” movies of the 1940’s and ‘50’s: “Your papers, please.” The Nazi Gestapo more often than not, delivered that line. If you did not offer those papers up fast enough, the second line was: “You have, perhaps, relatives in Berlin?” Do you get my drift?

This is far too much power in the hands of the federal government!

Now, I’m just a Carolina Country boy, but the opportunity for abuse, by the federal government, with this cache of information on its citizens, is staggering. Then there is always the possibility it could fall into the hands of nefarious characters outside of the government. I don’t even want to think about that!

It worries and confounds me that we Americans are giving away the freedoms our ancestors fought, bled, and died to secure for us. Too many of us are ready to give up our freedom in exchange for security! This is the surest way to establish a totalitarian government yet devised by man.

The American citizen now has to fight on two fronts to insure his safety and security. We must fight the terrorist and those in our own government who would take away our freedom just as surely as would the terrorists.

Big government, in America, is just as much a threat to our freedom as anything the terrorists can throw at us!

Alexis De Tocqueville summed it up when he said:

“It covers the surface of society with a network of small complicated rules, minute and uniform, through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters cannot penetrate, to rise above the crowd. The will of man is not shattered, but softened, bent, guided; men are selfdom forced by it to act, but they are constantly restrained from acting. Such a power does not destroy, but it prevents existence. It does not tyrannize, but it compresses, extinguishes, and stupefies people ‘til each nation is reduced be nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which, the government is the shepherd.”

Well, there it is. That is where we Americans are headed, as a nation. Slowly, but surely, we continue to yield up our freedom to the government. Soon there will be none to give up. Soon there will be none…………

Tuesday, May 3, 2005

North Korea nipping at the ankles of US and Japan.The ink was hardly dry on my post, a few days ago, concerning cleaning out that rat’s nest in North Korea, when, lo and behold, North Korea plops a test missile into the ocean waters off Japan!

Is anybody surprised? I mean… there is a mad man in charge of that country!

It didn’t take long for Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, to fire a salvo at North Korea. She pointedly reminded the DPRK of the fact that the US has a strong presence in that part of the world. In doing so... she laid upon the table the option of using those military assets to stop the DPRK , if it comes to that, in it’s tracks.

Japan is becoming more and more restless. I expect if missiles were landing in the waters off our shores we would be upset, too. That is a given. There is a "not so pleasant" history betweem Japan and both the Koreas.

Well, maybe we ought to hasten our plans to stop “The Nut” in North Korea.

Just a few days ago, Navy Vice Admiral Lowell Jacoby, (he’s the head of the US Defense Intelligence Agency) in speaking to a US Senate Committee explained how, and why, he believes North Korea has the capability to attach a nuclear warhead onto an existing missile, currently in their inventory, and strike the US with it… NOW! Other intelligence agencies believe the DPRK not only has nuclear capabilities, but has had that capability for a number of years now, dating back to the last decade. A number of them believe North Korea has been adding to their nuclear arsenal ever since.

You know, you’d think the world would have come to understand that this “cowboy from Texas” we call “President”, does not bluff. Even Syria understood that once he told them to get the heck out of Lebanon that was it. Either they leave... or... US forces would kick them out. Syria left!

However, in Korea, we are trying to deal with a mad man. There will be no reasoning with him.

Not many people understand that a state of war exists between North Korea and the US, even today, and extends back to the early 1950’s. That war is not over. We have only a “cease-fire” agreement with North Korea. An agreement they have broken many times. The US is closer to trashing that agreement, right now, than at any time in the past. The DPRK should know and understand that. The current US Armed Forces are not the forces of the 1950’s.

A reckoning is coming. It draws nearer every day.

The "Democratic People's Republic of Korea" is playing with fire. They are about to be seriously burned.

Monday, May 2, 2005

Are you as sick of the Democrats claiming the Republicans are looking out for their rich friends… at the cost of the poor folk in this country? Every time one turns around it is on the TV, in the Newspapers, and on the radio. Of course, the Democrat party controls the mainstream media outlets. (That’s why FOX News Channel is such a threat to them, and, why it is burning the ratings up. People have become sick and tired of hearing the old leftist spin, on the news, and are rushing to Fox, in droves, to hear the “real” news and, as they say, get it “fair and balanced”.

Here’s the thing. It really is propaganda. Plain and simple. It is political pabulum fed to the media, by the DNC, and the MSM laps it up and regurgitates it onto their respective networks or print media. They have been the willing accomplices of the Democrat party since, well, since the beginning. Nothing has changed.

My own regional newspaper, owned by the New York Times, is no different. Readers get the same old rotgut, left wing, propaganda. However, they have been doing this so long they have begun to believe their own propaganda. They actually believe they are unbiased! Talk about denial! Just a brief scan of their editorial page and a fair-minded person will understand immediately their approach to reporting. It carries over onto the pages of the news, too. The sources are well known left-leaning news associations.

So, with the Democrats controlling the Mainstream Media, why is there a hue and cry when a conservative voice pops up on TV, the radio, or the print media. Because, we conservatives are a very real threat to the left. Our ideas work. They are not difficult for folks to understand. We don’t have all the nuance intertwined in our remarks. We speak plainly and to the point. Oftimes, we are not politically correct, but then most folks aren’t.

Republicans are a mixed lot, the same as Democrats. But, for the most part we are a people who base our political belief in the rock solid fundamentals which built this country. We believe the founders were honorable men. Flawed, but honorable. We believe they meant what they said when they wrote the constitution and they said what they meant. We see no reason to change it one-way or the other. We are morally grounded in the scriptures and we believe that is the root of all things good. But, even more important than all these, we believe there are absolutes, moral and otherwise. There are boundaries. We, for the most part do not believe in relativity. It is either right, or it is wrong.

You can see why we lock horns with the Democratic Party, especially the new Democratic/Socialist party, for that is what it has become… a socialist/secular/ humanist party. The sad thing is… they have yet to realize the American people will have none of it. They are now bent on self destruction.

In by-gone days, the Democrat party was a party in which Zell Miller could feel at home. It was a political party the Southern folk could align with, especially since the Lincoln administration was a Republican administration. But, no more. The pendulum has swung and now the Republican Party is the party the Democrat Party used to be. Thus the switching of parties by Southerners and the reason the South is now solid Republican. Presidential elections cannot be won without the South. It will be a cold day, in warmer climes, when the South switches back to the Democrat party. It may well be time for a new party a moderate party, somewhere between the Republicans and Democrats. It would have a terrible time establishing itself as a threat, however, because most folks have chosen sides, already.

Just some thoughts today on why politics are, as they are, in the USA. Subject to change, of course!

Sunday, May 1, 2005

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Even the name sounds phony, like something for a “B” movie of the 1950’s.

Anyway, the “nut” they have running that country is liable to do anything… at anytime. He is about as unpredictable as they come. Sane people have a difficult time making any plans to counter his because he is so erratic.

The thing the US must concentrate on now is the PDRK’s ability to hit the western coast of the US with nuke-loaded missiles. If he doesn’t have them at this precise moment, he will shortly, and he will hit the US at the first possible moment. He’s that smart!

Don’t you just love it when they call President Bush a “cowboy”? So do I. It is hilarious! They have no idea that to call an American a “Cowboy” is the highest praise!

So, what do we do about the PDRK? Blockade them ASAP. The ships should be nearby and the US aircraft should be close enough to fly sorties along North Korea’s borders. Our trip-wire troops in South Korea should be put on highest alert, because chances are “The Nut” will strike out as soon as he realizes we have called his bluff. The US military must be ready.

There are expectations that sometime this month PDRK will test fire a nuclear bomb, or a nuclear warhead. The US is keeping a close eye on their preparations to do just that. In the meantime, I have no doubt US ships and aircraft are already enroute to set up the blockade. Now, the President will probably go before the UN and formerly ask them to join us in our blockade, which I firmly expect them to refuse, putting another nail in the coffin lid of that now dead organization. Then, we’ll go ahead and set up the blockade… just as we intended in the first place.

Every ship leaving any North Korean port must be stopped, boarded and searched, and either turned back, or sunk. If it has no nuclear material on board it may be allowed to continue to its destination. Every aircraft leaving North Korea must be turned back. If it is a military aircraft, and it refuses to comply with orders to turn back… it must be shot down.

I am aware this will, in all likelihood, begin a shooting war with North Korea. Better now than later… when they actually have “the bomb”.

That little pip-squeak of a state (I won’t dignify it by calling it a nation) has been a thorn in the flesh of the remainder of the world for much too long. Now it must be cleaned out, much as one would clean out a rat’s nest.

Now, don’t expect a push over as in Iraq. When US troops invade North Korea. The Koreans will fight. They have a history of standing, and fighting, to the last man. So, we will take a fair amount of casualties. But, in the end, the result will be a victory for US troops.

You may have noted I refer to no troops of other nations fighting alongside the US. We must get used to the idea that we are in this alone. The US has become the lone policeman of the world… by default. Like the town marshal in the old movie ‘High Noon”, the US will have to meet the world’s enemies all by itself. Because we are an honorable people, we will do what we have to do.

Look, when another nation, threatens to take out the west coast of the US, they had better know, we will take them out at the very earliest opportunity. The opportunity to remove North Korea, as a threat, to anyone, is fast approaching.

About Me

J. D. Longstreet is a conservative Southern American (A native sandlapper and an adopted Tar Heel) with a deep passion for the history, heritage, and culture of the southern states of America. At the same time he is a deeply loyal American believing strongly in “America First”.